Masking his surprise at the intelligence of the creature, Attravere nods approvingly at the turn in favor from Llanre.
(The closest Attravere has to an appropriate lore would be Order Lore re: Llanre, which specializes in the Stonehenge Tribunal and totals 3. This might only be relevant if the being has dealt with or encountered Magi before... should I bother rolling, or is this one entirely inappropriate?)
"Very kind of you, Rhodri." Attravere offers with a smile.
Turning to Llanre, Attravere inquires politely in Latin, "Intelligent and friendly, hrm, perhaps you might be able to assist us?"
And if Llanre doesn't indicate in the negative, he will continue after glancing over at Sanno, "We are looking for a close friend that may have passed through here some time ago."
Briefly pausing to consider his next words. "I do not know how time flows here compared to the mundane world, but it would have been several years ago in our time that he might have come this way. His name was Maribus."
Attravere looks to Llanre with a clearly hopeful expression.
(Worth rolling if you think she might have been someone's familiar or some such... but she hasn't.)
She nods.
The moment Attravere says, "Several years ago in our time..." she immediately shakes her head no. When he finishes speaking, however, she paws her hoof against a tapestry hanging from the wall. She draws out the shape of a triangle, leaving a rusty little pyramid on the cloth.
"Oh dear," Aequi exclaims, his eyes going wide. "Oh dear oh dear oh dear. Maribus will not be pleased, he will not." His face seems extremely pensive as he starts stroking his chin. It becomes quite obvious that though he's still moving with the group he's ceased to be searching for anything and is deep in thought, muttering to himself, "Did status bear any mitigation of assignment of time period, or should pater's example of two years be the baseline response? Oh dear, oh dear." He continues mumbling under his breath.
"Ha! The precedent established was only for official Library Books." Aequi exclaims. Sanno snorts and gives Aequi a cold glare. Shying away from the diminuitive furry tube of wrath, "but as Maribus's last translated thoughts and musings-no no, Lamentus would expect an equivalent reaction. 2 years seems so long, but the time period seems justified due to chronology of library usage. If I remember correctly, Aislinn was only stymied once due to the time period... having absorbed the responsibilities I must balance the consequence of a similar but more severe action with equivalent handicap. Ah! It is the handicap that should be the basis, not the arbitrary time period or action." Aequi sits there and nods to himself with his eyes partially closed, pleased. "Yes, yes, very good riddle, pater. Now that I have my shallow answer can I begin analyzing the cause itself, very good." And then promptly ran into the stable wall since he had his eyes closed. "Ow."
"Good afternoon, Yonree." At the wince Aequi will begin running through variations of name to try and get closer to correct. I'm sure by the time the mare is sick of him spouting different names, he'll be around "Lauw-ree".
"Tis a pleasure to meet you, Lowrie. Your hair still gleams, which is most interesting, considering the disarray of the area. At some point, if you'd be willing later, we must find a brush. I would be willing to trade some grooming, which by your coat is unneeded but Chance always does love a good grooming even when unneeded, and I'd hope you do too, for a chance to study a bit how it manages to keep that lustre." Aequi is rambling.
"This is strange," Aequi points out. "Why is that particular chair untouched by the passage of time? It seems apparent that this area has been in disarray for some time, so either someone has been cleaning that chair in particular, the chair is held outside of time, or something about this regio is centrally focused on the chair. But that's ridiculous, right?"
Aequi would also take a look at the accounting books, but is more curious about the frequency of entries and the last date, to try and place how long it's been since someone visited this regio.
(I'm assuming a very very long time). He looks at Lanre. "My, you must have been bored. No wonder you're willing to follow us. Do let us know what we can do in return besides being a mild point of amusement."
"Hmm...not forbidden, exactly, but what does brushing off flies have to do with... if the door does the same," Aequi ponders with his eyes have closed. He snaps his fingers, opens his eyes, and grins. "Warded! The door is warded! We'll get brushed off just like flies if we approach the door."
Rhodri will take a look at the triangle, though he's also eying the door. 'If the mare took the effort to draw this, it must be of importance... I doubt the door is warded that well...' He bounces between the thoughts a bit. Knowing the likely source of the mare's name, Rhodri says in Welsh, "Llanre, I apologize for my friends' pronunciation of your name. Is the door itself dangerous in any way?"
Sinmore looms over all of the magi that are crowding around the mare's drawings. She frowns again in thought as she looks at it. "Is it a pyramid maybe? Perhaps this is a representation of the differing regios we've been seeing? Blast, I'm no good at such riddles."
When he speaks the name aloud, something tweaks at Rhodri's memory. He recalls that in legends spoken of the Pendragon, the king had two horses. His battle courser was a destrier called Hengroen, and his palfrey was a mare called Llamrei.
When he asks about the door, she shakes her head no, but seems to frown.
"Hrm..." Attravere ponders while looking closer at the triangle, "Perhaps the triangle represents something within the regio?"
Attravere looks to Llamre for confirmation or denial.
Any details about the tapestry then? Is the triangle resting on any particular points on the tapestry, or is it perfectly equilateral, etc? Aequi gladly takes the suggestion and more minutely examines it. Oh boy! More riddles! This horse is fun! So much better than Chance!
It's far from perfect, but seems to be mostly equilateral. The image embroidered on the tapestry is moth eaten and faded, but seems to be some hunting scene. Her triangle doesn't seem to correllate to the background image.
Seeing Aequi fuss over it, she nudges him aside with a forehaunch.
At the top tip of the triangle, she points meaningfully; above it, she draws an oval. She points from the tip of the triangle to the oval, back and forth.
She then goes to the bottom left point of the triangle, taps at it, then beside it she draws a five-sided shape, as if soneone set a triangle on top of a square. (Like a child's drawing of a house.)
She then goes to the bottom right point of the triangle, and draws an oval with a line coming straight out of the top.
She turns to Aequi, looks pointedly at him, turns around in a circle, and points at the house shape.
Looking at the rust-drawing, does Iapetus's basic knowledge of Magical Theory or rudimentary knowledge of Lore seem to call anything to mind?
[size=85](I'll be honest, I'm a little lost at this point. I even drew out the picture on a piece of paper to eyeball, but not really striking anything.)[/size]
Sinmore throws up her hands in frustration but looks fondly at the mare. "You poor dear. Can you shake your head yes to this question? Are you a woman turned into a horse?"
"I'm going to look around the rest of the manor." she says to the rest of the group. "I'll shout if I find anything."
Llanre makes some kind of horrible gacking sound, and shakes her head "no" violently.
(Oh, thank Odin!) Where does Sinmore explore? There is a door to the right of the entrance foyer, a staircase in the hallway, and the doors at the end of the hallway that the horse doesn't want people to enter.
The double doors open into a large chapel. An ornate crucifix still stands vigil, and the stations of the cross are all in exquisite tile mosaic on the near wall.
On the dais is displayed a great golden sepulchre with elaborate carvings of men in battle. Inside the sepulchre is only a single lock of golden hair, tied in a green ribbon. Beside the sepulchre lies its displaced lid, and an enormous lead cross inscribed with:
HIC JACET SEPULTUS INCLITUS REX ARTURUS IN INSULA AVALONIA Here lies buried the great King Arthur on the Isle of Avalon.
Sinmore looks on the room with a critical eye. She knew very little of the one that men called Jesus, though they were often very condemning of her. But the legend of Arthur...
"Uh...uh...everyone, get in here! This is...um just get in here!" she says as she turns and yells out the doorway.
